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On the biggest stage, Shafali seizes her moment
Career-best performances with the bat and ball in the final of the World Cup is the stuff of legends
Navi Mumbai: Shafali Verma would always remain in the scheme of things. Shafali Verma wasn’t picked for the World Cup. The former was a statement from Chief selector Neetu David. The latter, a fact.
Ask a celebrated prodigy, axed from a home World Cup, to seek meaning in one of the two. Verma did not make any public comments after being dropped, but you couldn’t fault her if she might have struggled to see the glass half full.
It was good Verma wasn’t stuck lounging on her sofa , watching her teammates experience a groundswell of support around the country. To her good fortune, the domestic senior T20 competition was in progress, where the Haryana powerhouse made the opposing bowlers bear the brunt. Those 341 runs, averaging 56 at a SR of 182 came in handy when Verma found herself centre stage on Sunday, playing the biggest final of not just her life, but each of her teammates as well.
One would have to be some player to keep Shafali Verma out of the playing squad. With her 308 tournament runs, Pratika Rawal showed she was that player. She had spunk too. Rawal over Verma wasn’t just one over the other, it was the Indian selectors picking a certain batting philosophy over the other.
Verma was 17 when she was picked for the 2022 ODI World Cup in New Zealand. At the time, she was given the licence to thrill - happy days when you are not being judged. Three years down the line, the selectors were not convinced Verma’s high-risk game was worthy of being rewarded over Rawal, who was steadier, more organized, and better suited to build partnerships with the team’s best batter Smriti Mandhana. With her hundred against New Zealand, Rawal exemplified what she offered. But the Delhi girl had a cruel twist waiting in store, and a second chance on offer for Verma.
Rawal’s ankle gave in. Verma had to step up. A low score in the historic semi-final win against Australia meant, echoes of ‘look Shafali is not there yet’ picked up pace.
But in the final, shot-by-shot, over-after-over, with her check drives and flicks, swift rotation of strike, constant self talk, Verma was redeeming herself in the best possible fashion. On the grandest of stages, the 21-year-old was trying to show the world that she belonged.
In her 100-run opening partnership with Mandhana, Verma outscored her senior partner; she did it without going excessively aerial. She was playing the situation, trying to build an opening stand that would force the opposition into submission. It helped that Verma had Mandhana’s constant counsel.
As soon as the left-hander left in the 17th over, Verma began chancing her arm a little more. She got a reprieve on 56 in the same over. It didn’t help that around the same time, she began to feel cramps. The pitch also began to show a slower streak. In the bargain to push the issue, Verma had to leave on 87 (78b, 7x4,6x2) holing out to mid-off. But not before she became the youngest batter to score a fifty in an ODI World Cup final and enthrall the 45,000 strong capacity Navi Mumbai crowd.
If you thought she was pretty much done for the night at that point, you wouldn’t have been alone. But with Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus putting together a 50-run stand, Harmanpreet decided to trust fate and Shafali again. It took her two balls to effect a breakthrough -- Luus patted one back to the bowler. And then, with the first ball of her second over, she had Marizanne Kapp caught down the leg side. Seven balls, two wickets and Verma in her own indomitable way gave the hosts a chance to seize control
There’s plenty more to learn for the powerhouse of talent from Rohtak, but when she is on song, there’s no one quite like her. She showed that again by finishing as India’s top-scorer with her career-best 87 in their total of 298 and then with her career-best bowling figures of 2/36.
With her performance on the big stage, returning from the obscurity of domestic action, Verma once again showed why she’s worth persisting with.
On her return to the spotlight, Verma had said, “God had sent me here to do something good.” Every Indian supporter would feel that she has certainly fulfilled her destiny.
